Perfectly Normal
by Flight of the Ipis
Summary: Uchiha Itachi was just a normal boy. Too bad that didn't end well.


Edit (03/02/11): will post a second chapter about what happens _after_... someday. Review please?

Uchiha Itachi was just a normal boy. He was smart for his age, but it was well within bounds of normalcy. He was not a prodigy, nor was he stoic and silent. He was merely a shy, slightly introverted boy, easily intimidated by his father and the Council of Elders. Thankfully, he wouldn't end up like a stuttering and withdrawn individual, constantly shown up by his little sibling (coughHinatacough). No, Itachi was very much a normal, if pretty, boy with perfectly normal boy troubles, a perfectly normal student life, living as a perfectly normal heir to a prestigious shinobi clan, as normal as normal can be, in the midst of war. Sort of.

Actually, the Clan Elders are a little miffed at their heir's apparent excellence at being perfectly average, but they can't do anything about it, since there's really nothing wrong with the boy. That, and the fact that his mother can be quite scary when she wants to be.

* * *

The day the Kyuubi attacked was the scariest day in Itachi's life. He was only four years old then, but even he could tell that the bad feeling he got from that scary was not normal. So, like all the other children, he cried and ran behind his mother, who was pregnant at the time and was not allowed to fight. He saw every little boy's role model, the Hokage, fight on top of that giant frog. ("Toad," his mother said. "That's a toad, dear.")He saw their leader stand there, as if preparing for something, and then… he was gone. The next day was a mix of celebration and mourning, for while the Kyuubi had been successfully defeated, the Yondaime had also fallen.

* * *

The next year, his little brother was born. His mother told him that he was a big boy now, and that he was in charge of protecting his little brother, and be a role model for him. He took this job very seriously. In turn, little Sasuke idolized his brother so, despite his being perfectly ordinary.

When Itachi was eight years old, he entered the academy, like all the other wannabe ninjas of his age did. He made a few friends, and got perfectly average grades. He graduated and became genin at twelve, four years later.

* * *

A few months into his job as a genin, the Clan Council decided that it was time for a change. They wanted a coup, and they wanted all able-bodied Uchiha ninja to join, including Itachi. He thought it wasn't right, but being a perfectly ordinary ninja with a perfectly average skill set, he couldn't really do anything. So he kept his mouth shut and did as he wastold. He kept it all secret from his little brother though, since he would never, ever let him come to harm.

A year later, and the Uchiha clan had lost. But it was not without casualty. Being a very prominent clan for a reason, the Uchiha are known for their prowess in battle, and of course, their infamous bloodline. Itachi even awakened his eyes during the coup. However, the rest of Konoha havethe advantage of numbers on their side, as well as other bloodline limits and clan techniques. Both sides had suffered severe losses. The Uchiha clan may have lost, but they have weakened Konoha on their way down.

Itachi knew that the clan was corrupt, and so, during the confusion of the rebellion, he kept his bother hidden and protected as best he could. But he was only a normal genin, and he was easy prey. With his parents dead and most of the clan in a blind rage killing people left and right, he ran and hid, taking Sasuke with him.

But then the tides changed and shifted. Most of the rest of the Uchihas, now little more than several dozen of them, had acquired the advanced stage of their bloodline: The Mangekyo Sharingan. He had seen it's power as well as it's price. And even though he knew he had to protect his little brother, it was not a price he was willing to pay.

Itachi was fourteen when he lost his home. To add to Konoha's troubles, the other Hidden Villages had heard of the unrest and weakness in the great village, and like great predators finding weakened prey, they pounced, to exploit, to take vengeance. Iwa, Kumo, and Suna all attacked seemingly in tandem, and in two short and brutal months, Konoha was no more.

* * *

By sixteen Itachi had become a formidable opponent. War tended to do that. Now homeless and a wanderer, he had taught Sasuke how to fight and fend for himself. But in a moment of carelessness, and perhaps a bout of overconfidence, they had been separated, and hunter-nin from other villages killed his only reason for living. He was tempted to let them do the same to him, to kill him and send him to his family on the other side, but some part of him wanted to find a way back, to change all this. If only he had been stronger… With a grieving heart, he managed to escape.

* * *

Five years. He had searched for five long years. Five years of pursuing rumors, myths, legends. Five years of dead ends and false trails, of loneliness and helplessness. But there, in a desecrated temple he found a scroll to travel back in time. It can only be done once, with the price being one's life. It was steep, and probably not worth it to other people, but for his cause, for his little brother, he would gladly suffer and die.

The scroll detailed a seal of summoning, as well as several other warnings. The seal would summon the Shinigami, with whom one was to sacrifice their life to. A deal would be struck, and the God of Death would decide how one would die. The summoner would be sent back in time, but would die at the moment he had supposedly summoned the Shinigami in the past. It would only work once, for one only has one life.

Itachi did it anyway.

Checking and double-checking the seals, and offering the sacrifice of blood, he summoned the God of Death.

"**YOUR SACRIFICE HAS BEEN DEEMED ACCEPTABLE, UCHIHA ITACHI." **The voice was painful to the senses. It screeched at his mind and clawed at his heart, yet he still felt great joy at the fact that he succeeded. **"I SHALL SEND YOU BACK TO THE DAY OF RECKONING, THE DAY OF KYUUBI'S ATTACK AND DEFEAT. YOU WILL NOT LIVE PAST THIS DAY."**

A flash of dark light, a sense of vertigo. He opened his eyes to the sight of his mother, hearing her whisper about a frog being a toad.

"**IT HAS BEEN DONE." **With that, the presence of death disappeared from his mind, but not from his surroundings.

* * *

Itachi had been an ordinary boy. He had been a perfectly average ninja, with a perfectly average skillset for his age. But this time, he would protect his brother better.

* * *

A/N: My first time, please be gentle?

I was trying for a reverse Peggy Sue, with canon!Itachi being the end result… anyway, concrit and reviews would be nice.

Thanks for reading. I don't know if I'll ever get the nerve to post anything else ever again.

Edit (03/02/11): will post a second chapter about what happens _after_... someday. Review please?


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